garden
-
ABQ BioPark – Botanical Garden in Albuquerque, New Mexico
-
Hirosaki Botanical Garden
In northern Japan’s Aomori Prefecture lies Hirosaki, a small city. Known for its apples and orchard, this city boasts one of Japan’s few remaining original castles. Within the castle grounds is the Hirosaki Botanical Garden, a beautiful example of Japanese and international flowering and medicinal plants. General Information Hirosaki Botanical Garden is Hirosaki’s largest in-city…
-
Kaze no Garden (Wind Garden): Site of a famous TV show (Hokkaido, Japan)
Located on the island of Hokkaido in the well-known town of Furano, which features attractions such as Panorama Road, Lavender Fields and Farm Tomita, also boasts another famous garden that was the setting of a famous television show in Japan. Sharing the same name as the show, Kaze no Garden (or Wind Garden), is an…
-
Rokka no Mori: Wasteland turned Garden and Art Gallery (Hokkaido, Japan)
Located just to the south of the city Obihiro, Rokka no Mori (or 六花の森, literally the forest of 6 flowers) is a garden and art gallery in Hokkaido, Japan. Set up by the Rokkatei company, one of Hokkaido’s (and by extension, Japan’s) leading confectionary companies, the garden opened in 2017 on the site of a…
-
Ueno Farm: English Gnome Garden in Central Hokkaido
You would think that Hokkaido is one of the farthest places to be from the UK – and you would be right! However that doesn’t stop the Japanese interest in English gardens and gnomes in particular. In Asahikawa, Ueno Farm is the local example going one step further – it is gnome themed. Getting there…
-
Manabe Garden: Hokkaido’s Oldest Conifer Garden
Located in Hokkaido’s Obihiro city is Manabe Garden, the site of the first Conifer garden in Japan. Among its collection includes rare plants, many of which were established even before Hokkaido’s modernisation process which started even before the beginning of the Meiji Period (1868-1912). Manabe Garden Manabe Garden (真鍋庭園, Manabe-teien) is a garden that consists…
-
Kenroku-en: One of Japan’s Three Great Gardens
In Kanazawa City in Ishikawa Prefecture, close to the castle, is Kenroku-en, a garden renowned for its beauty at any time of year—even winter! Spread over 11.7 hectares (nearly 25 acres), it has ponds, several tea houses, and one of the oldest fountains in Japan. History of Kenroku-en Local legend – Sacred Well of Kenroku-en…
-
Seiryu-ji: Beautiful Buddhist Temple in the Mountains of Satsuma
In southern Kagoshima Prefecture lies the Satsuma Peninsula, an extremely mountainous region with beautiful beaches, stunning volcanoes and a long history intertwined with Japan’s. Near the middle of this peninsula lies a solitary temple inspired by Chinese designs. Named Seiryu-ji, it is stunning for not only the artwork on display but also its golden pavillion.…
-
Oyaku Garden: Miraculous Healing Water and Medicinal Plants
Located in Aizu-Wakamatsu (Fukushima Prefecture) in walking distance from Tsuruga Castle (Eastern Japan’s Largest Castle), Oyaku Garden, which translates as “medicinal garden” is an old garden and former feudal lord residence that has been operating since the 1380s. Mythical origins and confirmed History The exact origin of this garden is not fully known, but it…
-
Takayama Inari Shrine: Vermillion Torii Gates without the Crowds
When you think of Japan, many people know of Fushimi Inari Taisha in Kyoto, for the red torii gates forming a near solid path up the mountain’s slopes. It is the head Inari shrine dedicated to the Japanese kami (deity) of foxes, fertility, rice, tea, sake, agriculture and industry, general prosperity and worldly success (including business ventures).…
-
Asakura Clan Ruins: Once Japan’s Third Largest City
In the mountains east of Fukui City lies the “Pompeii of Japan”—the Ichijodani Asakura Clan Ruins. Once Japan’s third largest city (after Kyoto and Osaka) during the Muromachi Period, with a population of over 10,000, it was a military, cultural, and trade hub—quite a feat for this turbulent period. Today, it is one of the…
-
Hirosaki Itinerary: One-Day in Hirosaki and Beyond
-
Fujita Memorial Garden: A Waterfall-shaped garden
Just south of the unassuming Hirosaki Castle sits Fujita Memorial Garden, a tiered Japanese garden featuring an upper and lower garden. Fujita Memorial Garden serves as an oasis in the middle of the city, with natives and visitors coming here for a casual stroll and a break from modern life. Created by Fujita Kenichi in…
-
Hirosaki Castle: One of Japan’s original ones
Sitting less than an hour southwest of Aomori city by train, Hirosaki is home to something rare in Japan: an original castle. While most were rebuilt in the 1950s-1980s for tourism purposes, Hirosaki Castle is among the 12 original surviving castles. However, it has an additional uniqueness even among this rare crowd. The others, such…
-
Koshimizu Genseikaen: One of Hokkaido’s ‘primeval flower gardens’
If you visit the Okhotsk coast of Hokkaido in the east, one of the best places to go is the Genseikaen, or “primeval flower garden”, near Koshimizu. Koshimizu Genseikaen is a beautiful natural park that stretches on a thin piece of land between Lake Tofutsu and the Okhotsk Sea. A genseikaen (原生花園) is an area…
